News: Iran Economy

Banking Restrictions for Iranians in China and Malaysia

NCRI - Reports indicate that bank restrictions for Iranians in China and Malaysia and the closure of a number of their bank accounts have started in these two countries.

"China has been restricting its banking ties with us for weeks," Ali Shariati, a member of Iran's Chamber of Commerce told state-run ILNA news agency on Tuesday, November 14. “Especially with Trump’s trip to the country, this trend has intensified, but in Malaysia, the banks have announced a few days ago to some Iranian businessmen and even Iranian students that they cannot provide them with banking services.”

“Unfortunately, after two years of JCPOA, banking problems are still unresolved for Iranian businessmen, and most of the world's major banks are not willing to accept the risk of trade with Iran,” Shariati added.

Shariati was referring to Iran nuclear deal, also referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which is the culmination of 20 months of negotiations. This agreement was signed between the Iranian regime and the P5 + 1 + EU (US, UK, France, Russia and China, five members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) in July 2015, and was implemented a year later.

Under the agreement, the Iranian regime's nuclear program was limited, and the sanctions imposed on the country for this program were lifted.

Bank restrictions for Iran and Iranians were among the sanctioned cases against Iran, which were lifted on the basis of the nuclear deal.

Still, major banks are not willing to accept the risk of engagement with the Iranian regime. Although many of the banking restrictions imposed on the regime have been lifted, there have recently been reports of restarting some restrictions in a number of banks in different countries.

In recent months, the Iranian regime has been widely criticized for its missile program and its alleged involvement in the affairs of various countries, and some officials of various countries in the world are demanding putting pressure on Tehran because of these policies.

Member of the regime’s Chamber of Commerce said: “Yesterday, one of the main issues in the meeting of the Iranian businessmen with the 70-member delegation of Europe was the fact that banking problems between the two sides have not been resolved yet, and this is a problem that involved both European and our businessmen. On the other hand, we see that in the past few days banking accounts of Iranian businessmen in Dubai, Malaysia and China are being closed, and today bank transfers have become our most important dilemma.”